Here’s how small production companies have adjusted in COVID

Reduced company costs and outgoings

This is obvious but the first thing most companies did was look at the fixed company expenses.

Some production companies have scaled offices right back and re-negotiated their office rent. Some have even moved premises to save costs and others have simply decided that they no longer need an office at all…Often the big post houses can house productions so consider just scaling up and down as and when needed.

Staffing costs are often the biggest outgoing and there is now a massive shift in redundancies. Production companies are looking at ways of having more flexibility and less overhead, so things like hiring freelancers ad-hoc, rather than a full-time perm member for the same position. It’s key for anyone considering making big changes on the people front that it doesn’t have a detrimental impact on the business.

Another trick is to look for more margin within productions – what savings can be made within a series to bring you more profits. I am looking at doing rolling post deals for example which brings huge savings. 

 People! 

People are at the heart of your organisation – they truly make or break a production company. Look after them properly and they will look after your business. 

Successful small companies are ensuring the have the right support in place to see them through to the next chapter - especially when it comes to the business support functions such as Head of production, finance & business affairs.

It’s been a really interesting time seeing how companies reacted to the lock-down. Some companies were brilliant at supporting staff and freelancers, but others simply ignored their staff. Companies had the choice to furloughing people, but unfortunately there was a real unfair picking system which has now resulted in reputational damage to those production companies who didn’t do the right thing.

It's clear, the best companies are the ones are who look after their teams, keeping them healthy and motivated.

Through lockdown, we found two new board members for small production companies. It is a great way to increase credibility and contact base and also just an extra person on the books who is paid on success, rather than a fee or a salary is really helpful right now.

 Financial Support  

Lots of companies have taken the government support like the furloughing scheme and the bounce back loans but there are some other areas of support at the moment which production companies have been using:

 - Creative England is currently funding of up to £25K for creative business ideas.

 - Investment is harder to come across, but certainly still not out of the question. 

 - Banks overdraft facilities are better than ever before, so companies are using this to help their cash flow. 

 - The kick-start scheme that has been announced which will be a great way for companies to benefit from having additional resource at no cost to the company. This also gives great opportunities to under 25s who will struggle to gain employment.

 Staying Focused

It’s hard to stay focused at the moment.

But the small production companies who survive are the ones who are focused. 

With a smaller, reduced workforce it’s easy for people to overwork so I am working hard currently with all my companies that we support to ensure that there is no burn, which is much more effective in driving results.

It’s vital to ensure people still get the air time they need and seeing people even on zoom every week helps to keep teams focused, especially your senior management routines.

But building your network is more important than ever and possibly easier to do because of the likes of Zoom.

 Adapting

Adapting to the new norm is key… after all COVID is likely to be around for a very long time to come. 

Companies are now looking at temporary and long-time measures.

For the production companies that I support, one of the first things we looked at was updating the business plans. This meant that there was a real focus on the business model and it meant that we knew exactly what we were all working to. 

Maybe it’s time to diversify the portfolio – long-form branded content is possibly the future (in my humble opinion). 

 There are also lots of amazing tax breaks to consider and the BFI have an amazing young audiences fund for kids shows. 

Facebook’s entertainment partnerships chief Louise Holmes announced recently that she is urging producers to take advantage of the platform’s suite of money-making services to help producers generate revenue. 

 Whatever way you go about adapting the business for future growth make sure you are doing everything right from a health and safety point of view. Following the government guidelines for not only working in offices but crucially for filming will make or break production companies.

Having the correct systems in place is vital!

Remember It's not the strongest that survive, it's the ones who adapt!

Derek Drennan runs ‘The Nest’ which offers up Head of Production, COO support on a freelance ad-hoc basis, specifically aimed at companies who don't want or can’t necessarily afford from the outset the overhead of paying someone on a full-time basis. This means that companies have the support and guidance of a senior production lead who can help with everything from budgets to all forms of contract negotiations to include talent, team and of course channels. The Nest also sources board members for start-ups and can source investment funding and international sales deals. In a nutshell, it is about providing all the structure and support a highly experienced Head of Production, COO would give but on much more flexible and affordable terms.

The Nest can also work as co-production company providing all the infrastructure you need to make productions.